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I do think a lot of it is unfair. I mean, he's made mistakes so far, no doubt, but anyone that was going to buy the team was going to have to clear the payroll. The minor league system, or lack thereof, necessitates a rebuild. Really, this needed to be done last year after the death of Jose.

The problem is that Jeter hasn't been public enough. If he comes out and speaks to the media and let's the public know of the plan, I think people would be more receptive to it. Nobody likes a fire sale, but if there is a clear plan out out there, more people would be willing to give the ownership a chance to execute it. Also, he has the perfect opportunity to shift the blame on Loria here...not sure why he hasn't taken it.

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The choice to tear this down is unquestionably the correct choice. But this idea that the Marlins routinely “fire sell” is both exaggerated and also should have no bearing on the decision to do it with this team. It really isn’t about Stantons contract, or the batting order in general. It is more about the utter sh-t show on the pitching side, a handful of awful contracts there too, and the pathetic farm. A lot of casual sports fans tend to think the winter of 97 happened three times when really it was once. The 2003 team was given two additional years to compete for division titles before pieces were sold off. The free agents signed for the 2012 season shouldn’t have been signed to begin with. The famous trade with the Blue Jays which prompted Stanton’s “now I’m pissed” tweet was actually the correct decision.

What if the Marlins hadn’t traded Anthony DeSclafani for Mat Latos?

What if the Marlins hadn’t traded Luis Castillo for Dan Straily?

What if the Marlins hadn’t signed Volquez, Tazawa, and Chen to contracts that provide no value to the team?

These aren’t Jeter’s problems, but he is tasked to solve the problem and personally I’m not confident he has the tools to do it simply because he has no experience working in successful front offices in MLB. Is Michael Hill responsible? Maybe. Or maybe Loria was more involved in baseball ops decisions than we realize. Incredible things can happen on a whim. Even Jeter’s own playing career was affected by small choices. The Reds were all set to draft Jeter out of high school. The scouting all pointed towards drafting him but some old stodgy scout vetoed the whole thing on draft day and they decided to go with Chad Mottolla instead. Look at those dominos fall!

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I think from a PR perspective Jeter has done a bad job. I was thinking there would be more transparency with the Marlins after the team was sold, seems to be almost the same if not worse. Who knows once the dust settles things will be a little better. Baseball-wise you gotta wait for the results. Tha albatross of contracts on this team sucks. Chen, Volzquez, Tazawa. Luckily the last two come off the books after this season.

But I don't think it is fair they are getting this much scrutiny, anyone that would have inherited this team would be going through the same thing.